Standards For Guidance Counseling Programs

STANDARDS FOR GUIDANCE COUNSELING PROGRAMS

These standards were approved January 2005 by the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board. The Kentucky Standards for Guidance Counselor Programs are derived from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) Standards and are incorporated by reference in 16 KAR 5:010 that include core curriculum experiences and demonstrated knowledge and skills.

PREAMBLE

Professional guidance counselors represent a significant and important component of the educational leadership team within the P-12 schools of the Commonwealth. The standards for training and preparation for guidance counselors evolved from a synthesis of the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) national counselor preparation standards. The standards acknowledge the importance of a common core of knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as the specific skills and knowledge unique to the practice of professional school counseling. The standards for counselor training and preparation represent the foundation for the profession of guidance counseling in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

A. FOUNDATIONS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING

1. history, philosophy, and current trends in school counseling and educational systems;

2. relationship of the school counseling program to the academic and student services program in the school;

3. role, function, and professional identity of the school counselor in relation to the roles of other professional and support personnel in the school;

4. strategies of leadership designed to enhance the learning environment of schools;

5. knowledge of the school setting, environment, and pre-K-12 curriculum;

6. current issues, policies, laws, and legislation relevant to school counseling;

7. the role of racial, ethnic, and cultural heritage, nationality, socioeconomic status, family structure, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual beliefs, occupation, physical and mental status, and equity issues in school counseling;

8. knowledge and understanding of community, environmental, and institutional opportunities that enhance, as well as barriers that impede student academic, career, and personal/social success and overall development;

9. knowledge and application of current and emerging technology in education and school counseling to assist students, families, and educators in using resources that promote informed academic, career, and personal/social choices; and

10. ethical and legal considerations related specifically to the practice of school counseling (e.g., the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors, and the ACA Code of Ethics).

B. CONTEXTUAL DIMENSIONS OF SCHOOL COUNSELING

Studies that provide an understanding of the coordination of counseling program components as they relate to the total school community, including all of the following:

1. advocacy for all students and for effective school counseling programs;

2. coordination, collaboration, referral, and team-building efforts with teachers, parents, support personnel, and community resources to promote program objectives and facilitate successful student development and achievement of all students;

3. integration of the school counseling program into the total school curriculum by systematically providing information and skills training to assist pre-K-12 students in maximizing their academic, career, and personal/social development.

4. promotion of the use of counseling and guidance activities and programs by the total school community to enhance a positive school climate;

5. methods of planning for and presenting school counseling-related educational programs to administrators, teachers, parents, and the community;

6. methods of planning, developing, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating comprehensive developmental counseling programs; and

7. knowledge of prevention and crisis intervention strategies.

C. KNOWLEDGE AND SKILL REQUIREMENTS FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS

1. Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

a. use, management, analysis, and presentation of data from school-based information (e.g., standardized testing, grades, enrollment, attendance, retention, placement, surveys, interviews, focus groups, and needs assessment) to improve student outcomes;

b. design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of comprehensive developmental school counseling programs (e.g., the ASCA National Standards for School Counseling Programs) including an awareness of various systems that affect students, school, and home;

c. implementation and evaluation of specific strategies that meet program goals and objectives;

d. identification of student academic, career, and personal/social competencies and the implementation of processes and activities to assist students in achieving these competencies;

e. preparation of an action plan and school counseling calendar that reflect appropriate time commitments and priorities in a comprehensive developmental school counseling program;

f. strategies for seeking and securing alternative funding for program expansion; and

g. use of technology in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a comprehensive school counseling program.

2. Counseling and Guidance

a. individual and small-group counseling approaches that promote school success

through academic, career, and personal/social development for all;

b. individual, group, and classroom guidance approaches systematically designed to

assist all students with academic, career, and personal/social development;

c. approaches to peer facilitation, including peer helper, peer tutor, and peer mediation

programs;

d. issues that may affect the development and functioning of students (e.g., abuse,

violence, eating disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, childhood

depression, and suicide);

e. developmental approaches to assist all students and parents at points of educational

transition (e.g., home to elementary school, elementary to middle to high school,

high school to postsecondary education and career options);

f. constructive partnerships with parents, guardians, families, and communities in order to promote each student’s academic, career, and personal/social success;

g. systems theories and relationship among and between community systems, family systems, and school systems, and how they interact to influence the students and affect each system; and

h. approaches to recognizing and assisting children and adolescents who may use alcohol or other drugs or who may reside in a home where substance abuse occurs.

3. Consultation

a. strategies to promote, develop, and enhance effective teamwork within the school

and larger community;

b. theories, models, and processes of consultation and change with teachers,

administrators, other school personnel, parents, community groups, agencies, and students as appropriate;

c. strategies and methods of working with parents, guardians, families, and

communities to empower them to act on behalf of their children; and

d. knowledge and skills in conducting programs that are designed to enhance students’

academic, social, emotional, career, and other developmental needs.

D. CLINICAL INSTRUCTION

For the School Counseling Program, practicum/internship experiences must occur in a school counseling setting under the supervision of a site supervisor.

The program must clearly define and measure the outcomes expected of practicum/intern students, using appropriate professional resources that address Standards A, B, and C (School Counseling Programs).

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES AND CURRICULUM

Curricular experiences and demonstrated knowledge in each of the eight common core areas are required of all students in the program. The eight common core areas follow:

1. PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY – studies that provide an understanding of all of the following aspects of professional functioning:

a. history and philosophy of the counseling profession, including significant factors and events;

b. professional roles, functions, and relationships with other human service providers;

c. technological competence and computer literacy;

d. professional organizations, including ASCA/ACA, its divisions, branches, and affiliates, including membership benefits, activities, services to members, and current emphases;

e. professional credentialing, including certification, licensure, and accreditation practices and standards, and the effects of public policy on these issues;

f. public and private policy processes, including the role of the professional counselor in advocating on behalf of the profession;

g. advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients; and

h. ethical standards of ASCA, ACA, and related entities, and applications of ethical and legal considerations in professional counseling.

2. SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY – studies that provide an understanding of the

cultural context of relationships, issues, and trends in a multicultural and diverse society related to such factors as culture, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, sexual orientation, mental and physical characteristics, education, family values, religious and spiritual values, socioeconomic status and unique characteristics of individuals, couples, families, ethnic groups, and communities including all of the following:

a. multicultural and pluralistic trends, including characteristics and concerns between

and within diverse groups nationally and internationally;

b. attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences, including specific

experiential learning activities;

c. individual, couple, family, group, and community strategies for working with

diverse populations and ethnic groups;

d. counselors’ roles in social justice, advocacy and conflict resolution, cultural self-

awareness, the nature of biases, prejudices, processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination to the growth of the human spirit, mind, or body;

e. theories of multicultural counseling, theories of identity development, and

multicultural competencies; and

f. ethical and legal considerations.

3. HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT – studies that provide an understanding of

the nature and needs of individuals at all developmental levels, including all of the following:

a. theories of individual and family development and transitions across the life-span;

b. theories of learning and personality development;

c. human behavior including an understanding of developmental crises, disability, exceptional behavior, addictive behavior, psychopathology, and situational and environmental factors that affect both normal and abnormal behavior;

d. strategies for facilitating optimum development over the life-span; and

e. ethical and legal considerations.

4. CAREER DEVELOPMENT – studies that provide an understanding of career

Development and related life factors, including all of the following:

a. career development theories and decision-making models;

b. career, avocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources, visual and print media, computer-based career information systems, and other electronic career information systems;

c. career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation;

d. interrelationships among and between work, family, and other life roles and factors including the role of diversity and gender in career development;

e. career and educational planning, placement, follow-up, and evaluation;

f. assessment instruments and techniques that are relevant to career planning and decision making;

g. technology-based career development applications and strategies, including computer-assisted career guidance and information systems and appropriate world-wide web sites;

h. career counseling processes, techniques, and resources, including those applicable to specific populations; and

i. ethical and legal considerations.

5. HELPING RELATIONSHIPS – studies that provide an understanding of counseling and

consultation processes, including all of the following:

a. counselor and consultant characteristics and behaviors that influence helping

processes including age, gender, and ethnic differences, verbal and nonverbal behaviors and personal characteristics, orientations, and skills;

b. an understanding of essential interviewing and counseling skills so that the student is able to develop a therapeutic relationship, establish appropriate counseling goals, design intervention strategies, evaluate client outcome, and successfully terminate the counselor-client relationship. Studies will also facilitate student self-awareness so that the counselor-client relationship is therapeutic and the counselor maintains appropriate professional boundaries;

c. counseling theories that provide the student with a consistent model(s) to conceptualize client presentation and select appropriate counseling interventions. Student experiences should include an examination of the historical development of the counseling theories, an exploration of affective, behavioral, and cognitive theories, and an opportunity to apply the theoretical material to case studies. Students will also be exposed to models of counseling that are consistent with current professional research and practice in the field so that they can begin to develop a personal model of counseling;

d. a systems perspective that provides an understanding of family and other systems theories and major models of family and related interventions. Students will be exposed to a rationale for selecting family and other systems theories as appropriate modalities for family assessment and counseling;

e. a general framework for understanding and practicing consultation. Student experiences should include an examination of the historical development of consultation, an exploration of the stages of consultation and the major models of consultation, and an opportunity to apply the theoretical material to case presentations. Students will begin to develop a personal model of consultation;

f. integration of technological strategies and applications within counseling and consultation processes; and

g. ethical and legal considerations.

6. GROUP WORK – studies that provide both theoretical and experiential understandings of

group purpose, development, dynamics, counseling theories, group counseling methods and skills, and other group approaches, including all of the following:

a. principles of group dynamics, including group process components, developmental

stage theories, groups members’ roles and behaviors, and therapeutic factors of group work;

b. group leadership styles and approaches, including characteristics of various types of

group leaders and leadership styles;

c. theories of group counseling, including commonalities, distinguishing

characteristics, and pertinent research and literature;

d. group counseling methods, including group counselor orientations and behaviors,

appropriate selection criteria and methods, and methods of evaluation of effectiveness;

e. approaches used for other types of group work, including task groups, psycho

educational groups, and therapy groups;

f. professional preparation standards for group leaders; and

g. ethical and legal considerations.

7. ASSESSMENT – studies that provide an understanding of individual and group

approaches to assessment and evaluation, including all of the following:

a. historical perspectives concerning the nature and meaning of assessment;

b basic concepts of standardized and non-standardized testing and other assessment

techniques including norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment, environmental assessment, performance assessment, individual and group test and inventory methods, behavioral observations, and computer-managed and computer-assisted methods;

c. statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency,

indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations;

d. reliability (i.e., theory of measurement error, models of reliability, and the use of

reliability information);

e. validity (i.e., evidence of validity, types of validity, and the relationship between

reliability and validity);

f. age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, disability, culture, spirituality,

and other factors related to the assessment and evaluation of individuals, groups,

and specific populations;

g. strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and evaluation

instruments and techniques in counseling;

h. an understanding of general principles and methods of case conceptualization,

assessment, and/or diagnoses of mental and emotional status; and

i. ethical and legal considerations.

8. RESEARCH AND PROGRAM EVALUATION – studies that provide an understanding

of research methods, statistical analysis, needs assessment, and program evaluation,

including all of the following:

a. the importance of research and opportunities and difficulties in conducting research